Dhún na nGall, in Pictures

The first stop on the Great British Isles road trip is now behind me. On Saturday morning, I left County Donegal and drove a rather zig-zagging 160 miles through County Tyrone to Ballycastle in County Antrim on Northern Ireland’s coast. That brought my total mileage for the trip so far to something over 2200 miles! Aside from the long trip to get here, I put in a lot of miles driving around little roads in Donegal.

It’s beautiful countryside with a variety of landscapes: Rugged cliffs, soft green pastures, boggy fields and sweeping sandy beaches. Here are some favorite pictures — click on the photo if you want, for an enlargement and to read the captions.

Malin Head at dusk. It’s the most northern point in Ireland.

Newmilll Flax and Corn Mill. At one time a triangular shaped region of less than 1000 square miles n what is now Northern Ireland and Ireland produced 80% of the world’s linen,. At the time, linen was extensively used for variety of industrial and military purposes. During wars, demand soared. As the strongest available fiber., the exterior skin skin of the first planes was made of linen. It was also a type of body armor, for the ropes on parachutes , for book bindings and much more. Growing flax and preparing it to be turned into linen, however, was so labor intensive that each farmer could only manage about one acre of the stuff.

The great iron water wheel at Newmills

Glencolmcille .

The carved second-story doorway at Donegal Castle. Originally it would have been reached by an outside staircase.